MadgeScan

MADGE’S TWO ON THE AISLE: Madonna’s Interscope album, MDNA, which debuted at #1, racking up a year-best 358k first-week sales, benefited from a Ticketmaster bundling with concert tour tickets that added up to almost half of the total, according to the N.Y. Post. Those additional “sales” were the difference in finishing ahead of Lionel Richie who scored his best first week of the SoundScan era with nearly 200k for his country collaboration, Tuskegee. While SoundScan had made an “opt-in” offer for an album when purchasing a concert ticket mandatory to count “sales” in the wake of a previous Prince promotion, insiders insist that the consumer choosing to use a supplied redemption code satisfied that requirement. Other sources claimed the consumer being offered the option of either a “digital” or “physical” copy was sufficient. An inside source told the Post: “While the public may view it as free, [the album is] actually bundled into the price of the ticket.” (4/4p)